PROPOSED changes to the business-audit regime will not be enough to reign in Britain’s “bandit capitalists,” transport union RMT has warned.

A consultation on government proposals, which include replacement of the current accountancy regulator with a new body with greater powers, was launched yesterday in the wake of a number of catastrophic business failures.

Thousands of workers, including many RMT members, faced severe hardship after contracting giant Carillion collapsed in 2018 despite being given a clean bill of health by “big four” auditor KPMG only months before.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that the proposals had “the smell of big-business regulating and policing big business.

“The danger is that the bandit capitalists will be able to duck and dive their way around this proposed legislation leaving the workforce to take the hit yet again.”

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “It’s clear from large-scale collapses like Thomas Cook, Carillion and BHS that Britain’s audit regime needs to be modernised with a package of sensible, proportionate reforms.”

But Labour’s shadow business secretary Ed Miliband said “the package waters down some of the independent recommendations for reform, including on mandatory joint audits between the big four and challenger firms.”